What if we had that Immigrant Resource Center?: letter to Bellingham and Whatcom County officials / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Butterfly garlands, representing migration and created by community members, were bestowed on Bellingham City Hall in August 2022 during a call for City action to provide an Immigrant Resource Center.
The fate of the butterflies after the event was covered in the Salish Current article,
“Bringing the Butterflies Home”

March 30, 2025 Dena Jensen

I have so much gratitude for all the community efforts to call for actions from our government officials to bring home immigrants who were stolen from their Whatcom and Skagit County communities last week by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents. We all need to keep speaking up until their families and friends are reunited with those who have been unjustly targeted. Here is a link to information on just some of the ways we can take action: https://www.foodjustice.org/blog/2025/3/27/update-on-farmworker-leader-alfredo-lelo-juarez

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Public safety should mean safety at work too / Noisy Waters Northwest

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Click the graphic to access the article “Whatcom County paid $225K to settle sexual harassment complaints” on the Cascade PBS/Crosscut website

April 20, 2024

Hopefully none of us will ever become numb to instances where government officials, business owners, or any other kinds of organization leadership minimize harassment of employees in the workplace, and/or try to conceal that harassment. The victims of the harassment pay a heavy price that can plague them in numerous ways for years and perhaps for life.

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Sheriff candidate Chadwick favors property to double suggested jail size in future / Noisy Waters Northwest

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April 24, 2023 Dena Jensen

Here’s something to be aware of. The current Whatcom County Undersheriff, Doug Chadwick, who also is one of the candidates running to replace Bill Elfo as Sheriff in the November 2023 election, indicated that he wants to ensure that the County will be able to double the size of a proposed new jail in the years ahead and favors building on a property that would accommodate the size of a horizontal design, i.e. the property purchased for a jail in Ferndale years ago.

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Services needed to address more regular occurrence of severe smoke events / Letter to Whatcom County officials

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October 18, 2022 Dena Jensen

Keep sharing the things you learn and observe with our officials that will help result in more and better services for our community members who are in crisis or are in danger of being so.  

Here is an email I sent this evening to the Whatcom County Council and the County Executive:

Sent: Tuesday, October 18, 2022, 05:31:04 PM PDT

Subject: Services needed to address more regular occurrence of severe smoke events

Dear Whatcom County Council, and County Executive Sidhu:

I have been watching the rapid increase today in poor air quality due to wildfire smoke. I am including a couple screenshots. 

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Calling on Whatcom County officials to protect those exposed to extreme climate impacts/ Letter to Whatcom County Council and Executive Sidhu

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Click the screenshot to access a Facebook post by Community to Community Development displaying a video of Skagit Farmworkers out in the pumpkin fields during smoky conditions in early September 2022

September 18, 2022 Dena Jensen

Many of our friends and neighbors are put in a position to feel they have to work, without critical protections under severely smokey or hot conditions. There are currently no sufficiently protective provisions from our local, state, and federal governments for farmworkers and certain groups of people whom we have left to live or work outside during dangerous weather conditions.

I am including below an email I sent to Whatcom County officials today to call on them to take action locally and use their influence to urge state and federal governments to take action, as well.

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Some relevant perspective regarding Whatcom County concerns related to 22 North / Noisy Waters Northwest

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To access the full set of slides for the presentation “22 North Stabilization Progress Report,” click the image of a slide from a presentation to Whatcom County Council’s Finance and Administrative Services committee on June 21, 2022, provided by representatives of the Opportunity Council

July 13, 2022. Dena Jensen

I was not able to attend the Whatcom County Council meeting last night in order to give public comment, but I did manage to send off an email I’m including in this post, right before the meeting started.

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Regarding permitted RV encampment parking / Letter to Mayor Seth Fleetwood and Bellingham City Council

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Click the screenshot of text from the Fox 13 article, Olympia the first to permit free RV encampment parking on public street.

May 27, 2022 Dena Jensen
Here are a couple quotes from the Fox 13 article, Olympia the first to permit free RV encampment parking on public street.

“Olympia law says if an RV stays in one spot for more than 24 hours, it can be ticketed and towed. A requirement of the Ensign Road permit is for its occupants not to move—unless they plan to leave the area permanently.”

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A matter of public records: challenges in the quest for transparency

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Click the Los Angeles Times image of farmworkers silhouetted in front of an indigo sky and the headline of the publication’s 12/9/19 article, “Berry farm company fined $3.5 million over worker abuses” to access the article on their website

March 31, 2022 Dena Jensen

From some of my experiences and observations over the course of the last year, I would say that we are in a period where the tools for community members in Whatcom County to hold their elected and appointed officials accountable are more challenging to employ in some ways. There are at least some public records requests that are being filled more slowly than they were in years past, and rules around providing open public comment at local government meetings have fluctuated, with some opportunities to do so in the City of Bellingham having been eliminated. It remains to be seen if this pans out to be a temporary phenomenon or one that we continue to increasingly struggle with.

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